The Ghost Road Company has presented and continues to present Asterion, a 90-minute performance inspired by the myth of the Minotaur.
Inspired by the myth of the Minotaur, Asterion explores the life of one man who has seen the dark side of his nature and fights to regain his humanity.
Returning from a sort of exile, battle weary Asterion faces a strange homecoming full of veiled intentions and twisted familial bonds. In this world of shadows, he must face his demons as those closest to him fan the flames of his monstrousness. This visceral, physical, and poetic retelling, conceived by Katharine Noon, reflects the recent work of the ensemble with the Polish theater company Teatr ZAR and includes two of its performers.
The Getty Villa presented Asterion as the opening performance of last season’s Villa Theatre Lab series. The Ghost Road Company presented Orestes in 2009 which was the first offering in this series and we were thrilled to return to the Villa in November, 2016.
See still photos of the work in progress presentation here.
Watch the teaser video here.
After our workshop presentation of “Asterion” at The Getty Villa in November of 2016, we were invited by the Grotowski Institute to present the finished production as part of the Grotowksi Institute’s October programme on October 20th and 21st, 2017.
Ghost Road ensemble members Katharine Noon, Ronnie Clark, Jen Kays, Brian Weir, Mark Seldis, Adam Dlugolecki, and Christine Breihan were joined by Jakob Berger, Vonzell Carter, Ray Ford, and Lighting Designer Brandon Baruch for ten days in Wroclaw, Poland. There we continued our collaboration with Teatr Zar’s Alexsandra Kotecka and Tomek Wierzbowski who performed and led the vocal arrangements. Polish audiences embraced the piece and the company filled the historic Grotowski Laboratorium for two nights.
Asterion
Conceived and Directed by Katharine Noon
Performed by Christine Breihan (Wroclaw), Vonzell Carter, Ronnie Clark, Adam Dlugolecki, Ray Ford, Jen Kays, Katie Rediger (Getty Villa), and Brian Weir.
Vocal Compositions and Arrangements by Aleksandra Kotecka and Tomek Wierzbowski
Live music by Jakob Berger with Aleksandra Kotecka and Tomek Wierzbowski
Produced by Mark Seldis
Dramaturg Kim Glann
Production Stage Manager Molly McGraw
Lighting Designer Brandon Baruch
Costume Designer Vicki Conrad
Sound Designer Cricket Myers
Set Designer David Offner
Line Art Drawing by Madison Mellon
Developed in workshop by The Ghost Road Company with Katharine Noon, Ronnie Clark, Christine Breihan, Adam Dlugolecki, Kim Glann, Christel Joy Johnson, Kennedy Kabasares, Jen Kays, Jenn Kirk, Laurel Ollstein, Katie Rediger, Mark Seldis, Doug Sutherland, Brian Weir and Diana Wyenn.
Funded in part by grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
See some photos from Wroclaw below:
